Online sports bettors reported more financial strain than in-person bettors in a new Urban Institute report. The survey found sharper problems with bill payments and savings among people who wagered online, and it also linked heavier gambling with riskier betting behaviour.
Forbes, which first reported the findings on 9 July, said the survey covered more than 320 sports gamblers who bet online and in person. Online bettors were 15 times more likely to say they had missed a bill payment and twice as likely to say they had saved less money than they otherwise would have.
The report said 12% of respondents saved less money than they would have if they had not been gambling. Most of that group were sports bettors with incomes below $50,000 and gamblers aged 18 to 29.
Online wagering also appeared to be more frequent. Seven percent of bettors said they gambled daily, while none of the in-person bettors did. Another 28% said they bet weekly and 23% monthly.
The report said 67% of sports gamblers said they bet mainly to win money, even though the average loss was 7.5 cents for every dollar wagered. About 55% said they had bet less than $100 in the past year, while 11% said they had spent $1,000 or more.
The findings fit a wider research trend on the financial effects of legal sports betting. A March post from the New York Fed said more than 30 states have legalized mobile sports betting since 2018, generating more than half a trillion dollars in wagers.
That post said online sportsbook deposits rose by about $30 per adult per quarter in the first few quarters after legalization and around $40 after three years. It also said credit delinquency rose about 0.3 percentage points in legal counties from a baseline of 10.7%, with smaller spillover increases in nearby counties and larger effects among borrowers under 40.
An April 2025 UCLA paper reached similar conclusions. Using the University of California Consumer Credit Panel, it found average credit scores in legalized states fell roughly 0.8 points, and by 2.75 points where online or mobile access was introduced. It also found about a 10% increase in bankruptcy likelihood and an 8% increase in debt collection amounts, with harms concentrated among subprime borrowers.
